In recent years, there has been an accelerated growth in the use of RFID device for inventory and facility control and management, for product tracking during transportation (e.g., throughout a supply chain), such as ultra high frequency (UHF) passive RFID tag, requires RFID device have high performance (e.g., readable distances, readable rates), for security purposes (e.g., after supply chain (e.g., after point of sale, after-market), access control), and to facilitate various forms of electronic information interchange (for example in data security, such as consumer privacy concern).
However, conventional RFID devices suffer from a serious disadvantage—the readability of distances and rates of the performance, beside these. Specifically, an unauthorized party (with a compatible RFID reader or equivalent) who is within a predefined interrogation range of a typical RFID device may be able to access, delete, and possibly even alter the data stored in the RFID device, or track people. Clearly, this disadvantage becomes a critical issue in certain RFID applications, such as security and/or merchandise, in which product's information may be stored in the RFID device, and thus be subject to access and/or misappropriation by unauthorized third parties. The lack of protection against undesirable interrogation is of particular concerns with respect to RFID device access challenges. Also, there were contradictions between the readable distances and the security challenges.
Concerns over the abovementioned significant vulnerabilities of RFID device, and over RFID device-related increase performance and privacy considerations in general, have spurred the development of techniques to permanently disable (e.g., the microchip have a kill function) an operational RFID device after a certain event has occurred (for example, after an RFID tagged product has been sold to the consumer). However, such a crude “solution” does not in any way address the numerous applications in which further use of the RFID device is necessary after the event, nor does it address the applications in which it may be desirable to keep an RFID device in an inactive mode until after a particular predetermined event occurs. Such applications may include, but are not limited to, situations in which the RFID device's information should be protected from surreptitious and/or unauthorized reading until after the RFID device tagged product has been purchased, or the RFID device is otherwise authorized for access.
In order to address the above challenges, a number of solutions, described in greater detail below, have been proposed in recent years. However, each of those solutions suffers from one or more serious disadvantages, and none of the previously known solutions adequately address the full extent of the abovementioned challenges. It would be helpful to provide a brief overview below of the various types of such attempted, but ultimately commercially unsuccessful solutions.
First, by way of example, referring to the U.S. Pat. No. 7,298,330, entitled “RFID tag with enhanced readability,” references propose an RFID device has conductive material near it. The conductive material that is not a part of the RFID device (that is part of an object that the RFID device is attached to), that cooperates with the RFID device to enhance its performance. The RFID device does not have the enhance performance function itself, and it only reacts when near conductive materials.
Referring now to U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,277,016 and 7,253,734, both entitled “System and Method For Altering or Disabling RFID Tags,” both references propose solutions in which at least a portion of the antenna in the RFID device is physically damaged or otherwise physically compromised or covered sufficiently to: either reduce the interrogation range of the RFID device (i.e., the range at which it can be accessed), or to disable access to the RFID entirely. However, these RFID devices may still be subjected to unauthorized interrogation (albeit at a shorter range), and are difficult, if not impossible to re-use.
Referring now to U.S. Pat. No. 7,719,425, entitled “Radio frequency shielding,” references propose an RFID tag and shielding material configured to shield the RFID tag when the passport cover is closed, and configured to allow reading of the RFID tag when the passport cover is open. However, this shielding configured is limited for passport (or ID card) use to short range reading, and did not provide enhance performance for the variable readable distance and various usage.
Finally, referring now to U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US2008/0084309, entitled “Revealable RFID Devices,” this reference proposes the use of conductive material positioned over a part of the RFID device antenna, or that completely covers the entire RFID device (rendering it effectively inoperable) until it is removed, thus “revealing” the device. Thus, while this reference may provide a solution for keeping the RFID device inoperable until a certain event, it prevents the disclosed RFID tag from being used in an entire range of applications in which it is necessary to use the RFID device until a certain event occurs—not only the other way around. For example, during multiple key stages of their production and distribution, products supplied with the above-described RFID device would be of no use—they are fabricated, stored, and then transported from a manufacturer to a retailer, all without being able to utilize the RFID device for tracking/management purposes until conductive material is removed from the tag, revealing its antenna, and thus undesirably bringing all of the above-described access vulnerabilities and security flaws into play.
It would thus be desirable to provide an advantage for user-controllable enhanced RFID device. It may be implemented as an RFID inlay, tag, label, sticker, ticket. The enhanced RFID device comprises of enhanced component, for user's ability to increase performance by changing variable readability of distances and capability of user-selectable operation in one of a plurality of modes, wherein in a first mode the enhanced RFID device would be responsive to predetermined electromagnetic interrogation thereof, and wherein in a second mode the enhanced RFID device would be unresponsive to any interrogation. It would also be desirable to provide an enhanced RFID device that is operable to be selectively placed in an “ON” mode in which it is freely accessible until switched, by a user, to an “OFF” mode in which the enhanced RFID device is no longer accessible. It would furthermore be desirable to provide an enhanced RFID device with a retention component to keep it in an “Always-ON” or “Always-OFF” mode, and that is operable by the user to selectively switch the enhanced RFID device from an “Always-OFF” mode in which the device is not accessible to an “Always-ON” mode. It would additionally be desirable to provide an RFID device having a retention component that is easy and inexpensive to fabricate (e.g., roll-to-roll processing), that is readily accessible to, and operable by, the user, that is reliable, and that does not damage the enhanced RFID device in which it is implemented after repeated use. It would furthermore be desirable to provide an enhanced RFID device to increase the performance, such as increase and/or change readable distances, and the readable rates' additional capabilities.